BBC Could Cash in On Ads through Overseas Audience

ComScore released figures today suggesting that almost 60 percent of traffic to BBC sites now comes from outside of the U.K. It appears that the BBC’s decision to begin serving ads to their international users in October last year will be paying dividends as a result.

Some calculations using ComScore data reveal that the BBC served ads to a potential audience of around 270 million unique users in November 2007.

The data suggest that online visitors from outside the U.K. also outnumbered the domestic audience for U.K. papers The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, and The Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail had the highest proportion of international visitors, with 69 percent of its 7.6 million visitors originating from outside the U.K. The BBC attracted 59 percent of its audience internationally, while the Telegraph (57 percent) and the Guardian Media Group (56 percent) also drew more than half their respective audiences from outside the U.K. Only two of the ten sites (or groups of sites) studied, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and ITV sites had less than a quarter of their traffic originate internationally.